Reviews & features: Brian Donaldson
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Stuart Goldsmith
11 Aug 2010
On the road to proper glory
Goldsmith insists he’s a Reasonable Man and his blokish bonhomie certainly doesn’t appear to mask a ghastly individual. Standing out from the crowd is his chief concern here as he recalls being a failed goth in white trainers, a street performer who…
Sam Simmons
11 Aug 2010
Somewhat lacklustre
Some show titles require little comment when they are so horribly apt. For an hour which bounds around at breakneck speeds, as Simmons contemplates the things he loves and hates in life, its heart and soul is somewhat lacklustre. Taking part in a…
Nick Mohammed
11 Aug 2010
Fantastically irritating and inappropriate
The memory tricks which Mohammed plays at the end of this show would be worth the entrance fee alone, but by then, he’s already charmed our socks half-off with his fantastically irritating and inappropriate creation, Mr Swallow. He’s clearly too…
Mike Wozniak
11 Aug 2010
A frustrated and edgy figure
The moustachioed Portsmouth-Pole has been working on producing another Wozniak with his wife, but a month away at The Stand isn’t helping. Wozniak cuts a frustrated and edgy figure as he returns with Egg and Spoon, a far sharper set than his 2009 affair…
Damion Larkin
11 Aug 2010
Cuddly Loser has the feel of being hurriedly chucked-together
Full of confidence, presumably from his years at the coalface of stockbroking, Larkin’s story of being a Cuddly Loser has the feel of being hurriedly chucked-together and in dire need of narrative moulding. Still, for a fiver, you’ll get to hear one of…
Two Episodes of MASH
10 Aug 2010
Offbeat charm and wit
There’s no denying the offbeat charm and wit of Diane Morgan and Joe Wilkinson, but this latest Fringe effort is given a fatal dead-leg by its uneven pacing and repetitious tone. Wilkinson plays the frustrated misfit and awkward loser to perfection…
Kai Humphries
10 Aug 2010
Desperately needs an injection of sharper gags
There’s something about the Geordie accent (see Brummie and Somerset for details) that makes us want to laugh at rather than with anyone forced by nature to wield it. Humphries pretty much acknowledges this setback as he fails to overcome the hurdle in…
Derevo - Harlekin
9 Aug 2010
Sinister, beautiful show from Fringe favourites
You never quite know where you are with Derevo. The 80 minutes of Harlekin somehow fly by, aided in part by the trio’s willingness to hop around theatrical styles from dance to commedia dell’arte, from mime to psychological terror. It’s apt that such…
Magnus Betnér
9 Aug 2010
Cult comic in the making
It’s a traditional stand-up tactic to ingratiate yourself upon an audience by finding a connection between yourself and someone in the crowd. Early on Magnus Betnér discovers that there are some fellow Swedes in the front row. This means about as much…
Jonny Sweet - Let's Just Have Some Fun
9 Aug 2010
Derailing a show about a boat
So how do you follow up a hugely silly but wildly successful PowerPoint-happy Fringe hit? You go a step further and make Let’s Just Have Some Fun (And Learn Something for Once), a freewheeling romp about awkward failure and a terribly helpful lecture…
Richard Herring - Christ on a Bike
9 Aug 2010
A disappointing retread of past glories
With last year’s show, Hitler Moustache, Richard Herring created a genuinely moving and highly provocative tract about racism, identity and the power of iconography. On the back of an unseemly pre-festival row with The Guardian, he appeared to have his…
Reginald D Hunter - Trophy Nigga
9 Aug 2010
Funny but familiar material
While Reg D Hunter remains one of the most compelling presences on the UK comedy stage, it appears that he has become afflicted with Wil Hodgson syndrome. Like the pink-haired Care Bear-lovin’ former communist and wrester from Chippenham, Hunter was a…
Paul Foot - Ash in the Attic
9 Aug 2010
"Comedy connoisseurs" only for divisive yet invigorating hour
‘Not exactly Danny Bhoy, is it?’ An Irish woman presumably out for a rollicking night of mainstream stand-up comedy has chosen/been dragged along to a show in which a man with cream slacks, white slip-on shoes, plain shirt, 70s semi-kipper tie and hair…
No Son of Mine
9 Aug 2010
Family secrets uncovered amid a heap of gags
For anyone who has been embarrassed by a parent or felt shame at their offspring, this is possibly not the show for you. Then again, those scenarios most likely cover everyone, and it would be a shame to miss out on such a pleasing mid-afternoon show.
Laura Solon: The Owl of Steven
9 Aug 2010
A curious show about owls and oddballs
It seems like a very long time ago since Laura Solon popped up to Edinburgh with a hastily rewritten show and astonished the comedy world by walking away with the last ever Perrier Award. Five years on and Solon is getting into her stride with narrative…
Ross Sutherland - The Three Stigmata of Pacman
9 Aug 2010
Life’s daftness exposed via poetry and music
Over the past few Fringes, Luke Wright has earned himself a reputation as the cutting thrust of performance poetry. Now two of his fellow Aisle 16 buddies are getting their taste of an Edinburgh ‘summer’. While Tim Clare takes us on a Death Drive at Zoo…
Jessica Ransom
9 Aug 2010
What would you do with a million?
The bunker that is the Pleasance Cellar has been a launch-pad for several notable Fringe careers. Rhod Gilbert and Jason Manford both performed their debut solo shows in there and last year Jonny Sweet swept to Best Newcomer glory on that stage. Mind…
Don't Run with Scissors
9 Aug 2010
A Betrayal of Penguins can't quite regain of glory of 2009
Like most glorious debut ventures, the ‘difficult second album’ syndrome is a tough nut to batter. And try as they might, A Betrayal of Penguins just can’t quite regain the glory of 2009 in their new show, Don’t Run with Scissors. Some might point to a…
Keith Farnan: Sex Traffic
9 Aug 2010
Facts to gasp at and jokes to die for
One thing you can be certain of with Keith Farnan is that he doesn’t just knock up a show on the train up to Edinburgh. Actually, it’s unlikely that any of the comics do that, but it’s a phrase that’s been doing the rounds for years. With two…
Pros from Dover
9 Aug 2010
Sketch comedy from accomplished trio inject form with inovation
Critical reaction to sketch groups is an all-too predictable business. ‘Hit and miss’ comes the cry from the press box. So, when the likes of Pros from Dover come along and attempt to inject the form with a bit of curveball innovation, that should be…
Joe Rowntree: Peaceful Worrier
9 Aug 2010
Paranoia revolves around this comic’s past
It’s certainly brave of accomplished Fringe debutant Joe Rowntree to show us clips of him early on in his career being really rubbish on stage and having humiliation heaped upon him by a cruel compere. This, alongside the hack story of the crazy things…
DJ Danny
9 Aug 2010
By day, frustrated teacher, by night, DJ
For two nights only, Danny Robbins brings his cult character back to the Fringe. By day, a frustrated English and General Studies teacher; by night, a DJ who lays down beats which, as he puts it, are not so much ‘phat’ as clinically obese. With his…
Gary Younge visits the Edinburgh Book Festival
6 Aug 2010
Exploring issues of identity across this mad world
Returning to Edinburgh holds bittersweet memories for Gary Younge. He was in the city as a student in the late 80s, studying Russian and French at Heriot-Watt and was awestruck by the geography of his new surroundings. ‘Having grown up in Stevenage…
The Slutcracker's Tim Key answers 5 questions
5 Aug 2010
On fame, what bugs him about the festival and dead comics
Tim Key reprises his award-winning Slutcracker show for a snatch of dates. Here he provides the answers we wanted for our somewhat tarty Q&A.
James Robertson - And the Land Lay Still
5 Aug 2010
One of Scotland's most vital authors tackles our Q&A
James Robertson has been long-listed for the Man Booker Prize of 2006 for The Testament of Gideon Mack and has just published And The Land Lay Still.
